Dog

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DOG.—All the Bible references to dogs breathe the modern Oriental feeling with regard to them; they refer to the common pariah dogs. These creatures are in all their ways repulsive, and in the majority of cases they have not even outward attractiveness. They live in and around the streets, and act as scavengers. In the environs of Jerusalem, e.g. the Valley of Hinnom, where carcases are cast out, they may be seen prowling around and consuming horrible, putrid bodies, or lying stretched near the remains of their meal, satiated with their loathsome repast. Whole companies of dogs consume the offal of the slaughter-house. There is not the slightest doubt that they would consume human bodies to-day had they the opportunity; indeed, cases do occur from time to time (cf. 1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:19; 1Ki_21:23; 1Ki_22:38, 2Ki_9:10; 2Ki_9:36, Jer_15:3, Psa_68:23). All night they parade the streets (Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14-15), each company jealously guarding that district which they have annexed, and fighting with noisy onslaught any canine stranger who ventures to invade their territory. Such a quarrel may start all the dogs in the city into a hideous chorus of furious barks. In many parts these creatures are a real danger, and the wise man leaves them alone (Pro_26:17). When they attach themselves, quite uninvited, to certain houses or encampments, they defend them from all intruders (Isa_56:10). To call a man a ‘dog’ is a dire insult, but by no means an uncommon one from an arrogant superior to one much below him, and to apply such an epithet to himself on the part of an inferior is an expression of humility (2Ki_8:13 etc.). A ‘dead dog’ is an even lower stage; it is an all too common object, an unclean animal in a condition of putridity left unconsumed even by his companions (1Sa_24:14 etc.). The feeling against casting bread to a dog is a strong one; bread is sacred, and to cast it to dogs is even to-day strongly condemned in Palestine (Mar_7:27).
The shepherd dog (Job_30:1) is, as a rule, a very superior animal; many of these are handsome beasts of a Kurdish breed, and have the intelligent ways and habits of our best shepherds’ dogs at home.
Greyhounds are still bred by some Bedouin in S. Palestine, and are used for hunting the gazelle; they are treated very differently from the pariah dogs. Pro_30:31 is a very doubtful reference to the greyhound; RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] has ‘war horse,’ LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ‘cock.’
The ‘price of a dog’ (Deu_23:18) evidently has reference to degraded practices of the qedçshîm (‘male prostitutes’) connected with the worship at ‘Baal’ temples.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


The watch of the house, and of the flock (Isa_56:10-11; Job_30:1). Sometimes domesticated, as the Syrophoenician woman's comparison and argument imply, "the household (kunaria, 'little' or 'pet') dogs eat of the crumbs (Mat_15:26-27; Mar_7:27-28) which fall from their master's table." More commonly ownerless, and banded in troops which divide cities into so many quarters; each half-starved, ravenous troop keeps to its own quarter, and drives off any intruder; feeding on blood, dead bodies, and offal; therefore regarded as "unclean" (1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:19; 1Ki_21:23; 1Ki_22:38; 2Ki_9:10; 2Ki_9:35-36). Their dismal howlings at night are alluded to in Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14-15; "they return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city"; perhaps in allusion to Saul's agents thirsting for David's blood coming to Michal's house at evening, and to the retribution on Saul in kind, when he who had made David a wanderer himself wandered about seeking vainly for help against the Philistines, and went at last by night to the witch of Endor. As unclean (Isa_66:3), dog, dead dog, dog's head, are terms of scorn or else self-abasement (1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_3:8; 2Sa_9:8; 2Sa_16:9; 2Ki_8:13). A wanton, self-prostituting man is called a "dog" (Deu_23:18). One Egyptian god had a dog form. "Beware of the (Greek) dogs," those impure persons of whom I told you often" (Php_3:2; Php_3:18-19); "the abominable" (Rev_21:8; compare Rev_22:15; Mat_7:6); pagan in spirit (Tit_1:15-16); dogs in filthiness, snarling, and ferocity against the Lord and His people (Psa_22:16; Psa_22:20); backsliding into former carnality, as the dog "is turned to his own vomit again" (2Pe_2:22). The Jews regarded the Gentiles as "dogs," but by unbelief they ceased to be the true Israel and themselves became dogs (Isa_56:10-11). "Deliver my darling from the power of the dog," i.e. my soul (literally, my unique one, unique in its preciousness) from the Jewish rabble; as "deliver My soul from the sword" is Messiah's cry for deliverance from the Roman soldiery and governor. The Assyrian hunting dog as vividly depicted on Assyrian sculptures resembled exactly our harrier or foxhound.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Dog. An animal frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was used by the Hebrews as a watch for their houses, Isa_56:10, and for guarding their flocks. Job_30:1. Then also, as now, troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and the streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal, 1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_21:19; 1Ki_21:23; 1Ki_22:38; Psa_59:6, and thus, became so savage and fierce and such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in Psa_22:16; Psa_22:20, moreover, the dog being an unclean animal, Isa_66:3, the epithets "dog", "dead dog", "dog's head", were used as terms of reproach or of humility in speaking of one's self. 1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_3:8; 2Sa_9:8; 2Sa_16:9; 2Ki_8:13.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


כלב , an animal well known. By the law of Moses, the dog was declared unclean, and was held in great contempt among the Jews, 1Sa_17:43; 1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_9:8; 2Ki_8:13. Yet they had them in considerable numbers in their cities. They were not, however, shut up in their houses or courts, but forced to seek their food where they could find it. The Psalmist compares violent men to dogs, who go about the city in the night, prowl about for their food, and growl, and become clamorous if they be not satisfied, Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14-15. Mr. Harmer has illustrated this by quotations from travellers into the east. The Turks also reckon the dog a filthy creature, and therefore drive him from their houses; so that with them dogs guard rather the streets and districts, than particular houses, and live on the offals that are thrown abroad. In 1Sa_25:3, Nabal is said to have been “churlish and evil in his manners; and he was of the house of Caleb;” but Caleb here is not a proper name. Literally, it is, “He was the son of a dog;” and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic render it,—he was irritable, snappish, and snarling as a dog. The irritable disposition of the dog is the foundation of that saying, “He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears,” Pro_26:17; that is, he wantonly exposes himself to danger.
In 1Ki_21:23, it is said, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel.” Mr. Bruce, when at Gondar, was witness to a scene in a great measure similar to the devouring of Jezebel by dogs. He says, “The bodies of those killed by the sword were hewn to pieces, and scattered about the streets, being denied burial. I was miserable, and almost driven to despair, at seeing my hunting dogs, twice let loose by the carelessness of my servants, bringing into the court yard the heads and arms of slaughtered men, and which I could no way prevent but by the destruction of the dogs themselves.” He also adds, that upon being asked by the king the reason of his dejected and sickly appearance, among other reasons, he informed him, “it was occasioned by an execution of three men, which he had lately seen; because the hyaenas, allured into the streets by the quantity of carrion, would not let him pass by night in safety from the palace; and because the dogs fled into his house, to eat pieces of human carcasses at their leisure.” This account illustrates also the readiness of the dogs to lick the blood of Ahab, 1Ki_22:38; in conformity to which is the expression of the Prophet Jeremiah, Jer_15:3, “I will appoint over them the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear.”
2. The dog was held sacred by the Egyptians. This fact we learn from Juvenal, who complains, in his fifteenth satire,
Oppida tota canem vencrantur, nemo Dianam. “Thousands regard the hound with holy fear, Not one, Diana.”
GIFFORD.
The testimony of the Latin poet is confirmed by Diodorus, who, in his first book, assures us that the Egyptians highly venerate some animals, both during their life and after their death; and expressly mentions the dog as one object of this absurd adoration. To these witnesses may be added Herodotus, who says, that when a dog expires, all the members of the family to which he belonged worship the carcass; and that, in every part of the kingdom, the carcasses of their dogs are embalmed, and deposited in consecrated ground. The idolatrous veneration of the dog by the Egyptians is shown in the worship of their dog-god Anubis, to whom temples and priests were consecrated, and whose image was borne in all religious ceremonies. Cynopolis, the present Minieh, situated in the lower Thebais, was built in honour of Anubis. The priests celebrated his festivals there with great pomp. “Anubis,” says Strabo, “is the city of dogs, the capital of the Cynopolitan prefecture. These animals are fed there on sacred aliments, and religion has decreed them a worship.” An event, however, related by Plutarch, brought them into considerable discredit with the people. Cambyses, having slain the god Apis, and thrown his body into the field, all animals respected it except the dogs, which alone ate of his flesh. This impiety diminished the popular veneration. Cynopolis was not the only city where incense was burned on the altars of Anubis. He had chapels in almost all the temples. On solemnities, his image always accompanied those of Isis and Osiris. Rome, having adopted the ceremonies of Egypt, the emperor Commodus, to celebrate the Isiac feasts, shaved his head, and himself carried the dog Anubis.
3. In Mat_7:6, we have this direction of our Saviour: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they,” the swine, “trample them under their feet, and,” the dogs, “turn again and tear you.” It was customary, not only with the writers of Greece and Rome, but also with the eastern sages, to denote certain classes of men by animals supposed to resemble them among the brutes. Our Saviour was naturally led to adopt the same concise and energetic method. By dogs, which were held in great detestation by the Jews, he intends men of odious character and violent temper; by swine, the usual emblem of moral filth, he means the sensual and profligate; and the purport of his admonition is, that as it is a maxim with the priests not to give any part of the sacrifices to dogs, so it should be a maxim with you not to impart the holy instruction with which you are favoured, to those who are likely to blaspheme and to be only excited by it to rage and persecution. It is, however, a maxim of prudence, not of cowardice; and is to be taken along with other precepts of our Lord, which enjoin the publication of truth, at the expense of ease and even life.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


כּלב, kelebh; (compare Arabic kelb, ?dog?); κύων, kúōn; and diminutive κυνάριον, kunárion): References to the dog, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, are usually of a contemptuous character. A dog, and especially a dead dog, is used as a figure of insignificance. Goliath says to David (1Sa_17:43 ): ?Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?? David says to Saul (1Sa_24:14): ?After whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.? Mephibosheth says to David (2Sa_9:8): ?What is th servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?? The same figure is found in the words of Hazael to Elisha (2Ki_8:13). The meaning, which is obscure in the King James Version, is brought out well in the Revised Version: ?But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?? The characteristically oriental interrogative form of these expressions should be noted.
Other passages express by inference the low esteem in which dogs are held. Nothing worse could happen to a person than that his body should be devoured by dogs (1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:19, 1Ki_21:23, etc.). Job_30:1 says of the youth who deride him that he disdained to set their fathers with the dogs of his flock. In Phi_3:2 and Rev_22:15, dogs are coupled with evil-workers, sorcerers, etc. In Mat_7:6 we read: ?Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine.?
Job_30:1 (cited above) refers to the use of dogs to guard flocks; and the comparison of inefficient watchmen with dumb dogs (Isa_56:10) implies that at least some dogs are useful. In the apocryphal Book of Tob, Tobias' dog is his companion on his travels (Tobit 5:16; 11:4; on this see Expository Times, XI, 258; HDB, IV, 989; Geiger, Civilization of E. Iranians, I, 85ff).
There is further the reference to the greyhound (Pro_30:31 English Versions) as one of the four things which are ?stately in their going.? But the rendering, ?greyhound,? rests solely upon inference, and is contrary to the Septuagint and Vulgate, which have respectively aléktōr and gallus, i.e. ?cock,? the King James Version margin ?horse.? The Hebrew has zarzı̄r mothnayim, which the King James Version marginrenders ?girt in the loins.? the Revised Version, margin has ?warhorse,? Hebrew ?well girt (or, well knit) in the loins.? In support of the meaning, ?girt,? for zarzı̄r, there is the word zēr, which, with zarzı̄r, is assigned to the obsolete root zārar and the Arabic zirr, ?button,? from zarr, ?to button,? ?to compress.? Further, to render zarzı̄r by ?cock? logically requires a change in the text, for mothnayim, ?loins,? becomes superlative and inappropriate (see Encyclopedia Biblica, under the word ?Cock?). On the other hand, the Arabic zarzūr is a starling (compare Arabic zarzar, ?to utter cries,? said of birds; ṣarṣar, ?to cry out?; ṣarṣūr, ?cockroach,? or ?cricket?). Also, according to Encyclopedia Biblica (s.v. ?Cock?), ?the Talmudic zarzı̄ř ... means some bird (a kind of raven).? If the text stands, there appears to be no better rendering than ?girt in the loins,? which might fairly be taken to refer to a war horse or to a greyhound. The Persian greyhound would in that case be understood, a hairy race, which, according to the Royal Natural History, is less fleet than the English breed and is used in chasing gazelles and in hunting the wild ass, and which according to Doughty (Arabia Deserta) is kept by the Bedouin. ?These dogs are said to be sometimes girdled by their owners to prevent them from over-eating and becoming fat? (L. Fletcher, British Museum (Natural History)).
Domestic dogs have probably been derived from various species of wolves and jackals. In this connection, it is noteworthy that the dogs of certain regions greatly resemble the wolves of those regions. The pariah dogs of Syria and Palestine resemble the jackals, especially in color and in the tail, differing in their greater size and in the shape of muzzle and ears. It is fair to assume that they are much the same as existed in Bible times. They are in general meek and harmless creatures, and are valuable as scavengers, but disturb the night with their barking. Each quarter of the city has its own pack of dogs, which vigorously resents any invasion of its territory. A dog which for any reason finds itself in foreign territory gets home as quickly as possible, and is lucky if it does not have to run the gauntlet of a pack of vicious foes. The pariah dog is sometimes brought up to be a sheep dog, but the best shepherd dogs are great wolfish creatures, which are usually obtained from Kurdistan.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.



Fig. 150?Dog
Dog occurs in many places of Scripture (Exo_22:31; 1Sa_17:43; 1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_9:8; 2Ki_8:13; Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14-15; Pro_26:11; Pro_26:17, etc.). An animal so well known, whose numerous varieties come under daily observation, requires no detailed description. There is, however, in Asia still extant one, perhaps more than one species, that never have been the companions of man, and there are races of uncertain origin, that may have been formerly domesticated, but which are now feral, and as fierce as wolves; while, from the particular opinions of Oriental nations, there are others, exceedingly numerous, neither wild nor domesticated, but existing in all the cities and towns of the Levant, without owners; feeding on carrion and offal, and still having the true instinct of protecting property, guarding the inhabitants of the district or quarter where they are tolerated; and so far cherished, that water and some food are not unusually placed within their reach.
The true wild species of Upper and Eastern Asia is a low, sharp-nosed, reddish cur-dog, not unlike a fox, but with less tail. In Persia and Turkey there exists a larger dog resembling a wolf, exceedingly savage. Both are gregarious, hunt in packs, but are occasionally seen alone. They are readily distinguished from a wolf by their shorter unfurnished tails. In the time of the sojourning of Israel in Egypt, there were already in existence domestic dogs of the principal races now extant?the cur-dog or fox-dog, the hound, the greyhound, and even a kind of low-legged turnspit. All the above, both wild and reclaimed, there is every reason to believe, were known to the Hebrews, and, notwithstanding the presumed Mosaic prohibition, anterior habits, and, in some measure, the necessity of their condition, must have caused cattle-dogs to be retained as property (Deu_23:18); for we find one of that race, or a house-dog, actually attending on travelers (Tob_5:16; Tob_11:4). It is to be presumed that practically the street-dogs alone were considered as absolutely unclean; though all, as is the case among Muhammadans, were excluded from familiarity.
Beside the cattle-dog, the Egyptian hound and one or two varieties of greyhound were most likely used for hunting?a pastime, however, which the Hebrews mostly pursued on foot.
The street-dog, without master, apparently derived from the rufous cur, and in Egypt partaking of the mongrel greyhound, often more or less bare, with a mangy unctuous skin, frequently with several teeth wanting, was, as it now is, considered a defiling animal. It is to animals of this class, which no doubt followed the camp of Israel, and hung on its skirts, that allusion is more particularly made in Exo_22:31; for the same custom exists at this day, and the race of street-dogs still retains their ancient habits. But with regard to the dogs that devoured Jezebel, and licked up Ahab's blood (1Ki_21:23), they may have been of the wild races, a species of which is reported to have particularly infested the banks of the Kishon and the district of Jezreel.
The cities of the East are still greatly disturbed in the night by the howlings of street-dogs, who, it seems, were similarly noisy in ancient times, the fact being noticed in Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14; and dumb or silent dogs are not infrequently seen, such as Isaiah alludes to (Isa_56:10).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


2Sa_9:8 (a) This poor man felt so desperately unworthy that he compared himself to this animal.

Psa_22:16 (a) These were JESUS' enemies who wandered around the Cross gaping at Him and desiring to injure Him.

Isa_56:10 (c) These were the leaders of Israel who refused to warn and to protect them from their enemies; or it is any unsaved religious leader who fails to be a blessing to GOD's people.

Mat_15:26 (a) This troubled woman accepted the place CHRIST gave her and compared herself to a dog waiting to be fed with the crumbs.

Phi_3:2 (b) This is a reference to unsaved, religious leaders whose only purpose is to feed themselves and bark out their feelings which give no enlightenment or help to others.

2Pe_2:22 (b) This refers to a religious leader who gets nothing from GOD but gives out that which he has mixed up and concocted within his own mind. He feeds on this himself and offers it to others.

Rev_22:15 (a) GOD is informing us that false leaders, evil teachers and other similar characters who are described as "dogs" in the Old Testament and the New, will not be permitted to enter Heaven.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


Dog
(כֶּלֶב, ke'leb, so called from his barking; Arabic kelb; Greek κύων, whence Eng. hound; diminutive κυνάριον) occurs in numerous passages both of the Old and the New Testament (see Bochart, Hieroz. 1:769 sq.). An animal so well known, whose numerous varieties come under daily observation, requires no detailed description (see the Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v.). There is, however, in Asia still extant one, perhaps more than one, species, that never have been the companions of man, and there are races of uncertain origin, that may have been formerly domesticated, but which are now feral, and as fierce as wolves; while, in accordance with Oriental modes of speech, there are others, exceedingly numerous, neither wild nor domesticated, but existing in all the cities and towns of the Levant, without owners; feeding on carrion and offal, and still having the true instinct of protecting property, guarding the inhabitants of the district or quarter where they are tolerated; and so far cherished, that water and some food are not unusually placed within their reach (see Jardine's Naturalists' Library, 9, 10). The true wild species of Upper and Eastern Asia is a low, sharp-nosed, reddish car-dog, not unlike a fox. but with less tail. In Persia and Turkey there exists a larger dog resembling a wolf, exceedingly savage. Both are gregarious, hunt in packs, but are occasionally seen alone. They are readily distinguished from a wolf by their shorter unfurnished tails. In the time of the sojourning of Israel in Egypt, there were already in existence domestic dogs of the principal races now extant — the curdog or fox-dog, the hound, the greyhound, and even a kind of low-legged turnspit (Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt. abridgm. 1:230). All the above, both wild and reclaimed, there is every reason to believe, were known to the Hebrews (see Mishna, Baba Kamma, 7:7), and although the Mosaic prohibition is presumed, yet anterior habits, and, in some measure, the necessity of their condition, must have caused cattle-dogs to be retained as property (Deu_23:18), for we find one of that race, or a house-dog, actually attending on travelers (Tob_5:16; Tob_11:4). It is to be presumed that practically the street-dogs alone were considered as absolutely unclean; though all, as is the case among Mohammedans, were excluded from familiarity. (See Berjeau, Dogs on Old Sculptures, etc. Lond. 1863.) In Egypt, anterior to the Christian aera, domestic dogs were venerated. SEE NIBHAZ.
They continued to be cherished till the Arabian conquest, when they, like the unowned street-dogs, fell under the imprecation of Mohammed, who with reluctance, though with good policy, modified his denunciations and sentence of destruction in favor of hunting-dogs, and even permitted game killed by them to be eaten, provided they had not devoured any portion of it (comp. Exo_22:31). The words of the Lord Jesus to the Syrophoenician woman, and her answer (Mat_15:26-27), certainly imply a domestication and domiciliation of dogs; but simple toleration of their presence is all that can be gathered. They lived on what they could get. Among the Moors of North Africa a similar position of the dog is occasionally seen. They "grant him, indeed, a corner of their tent, but this is all; they never caress him, never throw him anything to eat" (Poiret's Barbary, 1:253). Besides the cattle-dog, the Egyptian hound, and one or two varieties of greyhound, were most likely used for hunting — a pastime, however, which the Hebrews mostly pursued on foot. On the Assyrian monuments they are depicted in hunting scenes. The street-dog, without master, apparently derived from the rufous-cur, and in Egypt partaking of the mongrel greyhound, often more or less bare, with a mangy, unctuous skin, fre. quently with several teeth wanting, was, as it now is, considered a defiling animal. It is to animals of this class, which no doubt followed the camp of Israel, and hung on its skirts, that allusion is more particularly made in Exo_22:31, for the same custom exists at this day, and the race of streetdogs still retains their ancient habits (Prosp. Alpin. Rev. Egypt. 4:8, page 230 sq.; Russel, Aleppo, 2:55; Rosenmüller, Morgen. 4:76). A portion of the Cairo packs annually become hajis, and go and return with the caravan to Mecca, while others come from Damascus, acting in the same manner; and it is known that the pilgrims from the banks of the Indus are similarly attended to Kerbela: indeed, every caravan is so, more or less, by these poor animals. But with regard to the dogs that devoured Jezebel, and licked up Ahab's blood (1Ki_21:23), they may have been of the wild races, a species of which is reported to have particularly infested the banks of the Kishon and the district of Jezreel. In illustration of this shocking end of Jezebel, it may be remarked that the more than half-wild street-dogs of the East, living upon their own resources, and without owners, soon make rapid clearance of the flesh of dead bodies left exposed, whether of human creatures or beasts (Bruce, Trav. 4:81).
Among other instances, it is recorded that a number of Indian pilgrims were drowned by the sinking of a ferry-boat in which they were crossing a river. Two days afterwards a spectator relates: "On my approaching several of these sad vestiges of mortality, I perceived that the flesh had been completely devoured from the bones by the Pariah dogs, vultures, and other obscene animals. The only portion of the several corpses I noticed that remained entire and untouched were the bottoms of the feet and insides of the hands, a circumstance that may afford a corroborative proof of the rooted antipathy the dog has to prey upon the human hands and feet. Why such should be the case remains a mystery" (Kitto's Daily Illust. in loc.). Stanley (S. and P. page 350) states that he saw on the very site of Jezreel the descendants of the dogs that devoured Jezebel, prowling on the mounds without the walls for offal and carrion thrown out to them to consume; and Wood, in his Journal to the source of the Oxus, complains that the dog has not yet arrived at his natural position in the social state (compare Strabo, 17:821; Burckhardt, Trav. 2:870). The dog was employed, however, in sacrifice by some ancient nations (Pausan. 3:14, 9; Arnob. 4:25; Julian, Orat. 5, page 176; Pliny, 18:69; comp. Saubert, De sacrific. c. 23, page 518 sq.), and was even sometimes eaten (Plutarch, De sollert. animal. c. 2; Justin. 19:1). The cities of the East are still greatly disturbed in the night by the howlings of street-dogs, who, it seems, were similarly noisy in ancient times, the fact being noticed in Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14; and dumb or silent dogs are not unfrequently seen, such as Isaiah alludes to (56:10). The same passage has reference to the peculiarly fitful sleep of the dog, and his sudden start as if during a dream (see J.G. Michaelis, Observ. Sacr. 2:50 sq.). The dog was used by the Hebrews as a watch for their houses (Isa_56:10; comp. Iliad, 23:173; Odys. 17:309), and for guarding their flocks (Job_30:1; comp. Iliad, 10:183; 12:302; Varro, R.R. 2:9; Colum. 7:12; see Thomson, Land and Book, 1:301).
Then also, as now, troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal (1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:19; 1Ki_21:23; 1Ki_22:38; 2Ki_9:10; 2Ki_9:36; Jer_15:3; Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14), and thus became such objects of dislike (comp. Harmar, 1:198 sq.; Host, Nachr. 5. Marokko; page 294; Joliffe, page 327) that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in Psa_22:16; Psa_22:20 (see Jer_15:3; comp. Joseph. Ant. 15:8, 4; Homer, Il. 17:255; 22:335). Moreover, the dog, being an unclean animal (Isa_66:3; Mat_7:6; comp. Horace, Ep. 1:2, 26), as still in the East (Arvieux, 3:189; Hasselquist, page 109), and proverbially filthy in its food (Pro_26:11; 2Pe_2:22), the terms dog, dead dog, dog's head were used as terms of reproach, or of humility in speaking of one's self (1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_3:8; 2Sa_9:8; 2Sa_16:9; 2Ki_8:13). Knox relates a story of a nobleman of Ceylon, who, being asked by the king how many children he had, replied, "Your majesty's dog has three puppies." Throughout the whole East "dog" is a term of reproach for impure and profane persons, and in this sense is used by the Jews respecting the Gentiles (Rev_22:15; compare Schöttgen, Hor. Hebrews 1:1145), and by Mohammedans respecting Christians (Wetstein, 1:424; 2:274). The wanton nature of the dog is another of its characteristics, and there can be no doubt that כֶּלֶב in Deu_23:18 means a male prostitute (i.q.
קָדֵשׁ); comp. Sir_26:25, "A shameless woman shall be counted as a dog" (Hesych. κυνὲς ἀναιδεῖς). We still use the name of one of the noblest creatures in the world as a term of contempt (comp. Athen. 6:270). To ask an Uzbek to sell his wife would be no affront, but to ask him to sell his dog an unpardonable insult —Suggeeferosh, or dog-seller, being the most offensive epithet that one Uzbek can apply to another. The addition of the article (τοῖς κυναρίοις, Mat_15:26; Mar_7:27) implies that the presence of dogs was an ordinary feature of Eastern life in our Savior's time. When Christ says in Mat_15:26, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs," by the children are meant the Jews; by the dogs, the Gentiles. In the Rabbinical writings the question is put, "What does a dog mean?" and the answer is, "One who is uncircumcised." The dog and the sow are mentioned together in Isa_66:3; Mat_7:6; 2Pe_2:22, as being alike impure and unacceptable. Paul calls the false apostles dogs on account of their impurity and love of gain (Php_3:2; see Simon, Κυνοβλεψία, a Paulo mandata, Smalcald, 1747). Those who are shut out of the kingdom of heaven are called dogs, sorcerers, etc. (Rev_22:15), where the word is applied to all kinds of vile persons, as it is to a particular class in Deu_23:18.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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